CORVALLIS, Ore. — They were stumbling and bumbling along, and only the defense, stellar again, kept UCLA from completely crumbling.

But after fumbling away the football on their first two plays from scrimmage and crushing their own drives with mistakes, a lack of execution and three turnovers, the Bruins righted themselves in the final 10 minutes and raced out of Reser Stadium on Saturday with an offense that looked much better than it played and a 40-14 victory over Oregon State.

‘’The turnovers hurt us early. We had some critical penalties there when we were in scoring position, which was really hard to stomach,’’ UCLA offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said, “But we found a way.”

The Bruins, 3-0 and still alone at the top of the Pac-10, scored 28 points in a span of seven minutes in that final quarter. It started with a slip screen that Brandon Breazell took 69 yards into the end zone after breaking a tackle by linebacker Alan Darlin, giving UCLA a lead for the first time, 19-14, and quieting a testy crowd of 41,137.

‘’This is the most hostile territory I think I’ve been in and just to hear 45,000 people just shut up instantly is the most amazing feeling,’’ defensive end Bruce Davis said.

To get there, though, the defense had to continue giving them chances. UCLA had given up 75 points in its past two games to Utah and Washington, teams ranked 105th and 73rd in the nation in total offense. But Saturday, the Bruins took away the Beavers’ rushing game and forced quarterback Sean Canfield to make plays that he could not.

Oregon State had 12 series after the first quarter and six were over after only three plays. Itpunted eight times, lost three fumbles, including two on kickoffs.

The Beavers rushed for only 102 yards on 38 plays, an average of 2.7 per play. Canfield threw for only 146 yards and was intercepted twice by cornerback Trey Brown.

‘’Our philosophy was it doesn’t matter what the offense does. If they score 100 points or if they score zero points, we have to go win this football game,’’ Davis said.

It was not until the fourth quarter that the Bruins could take advantage of some solid field position and sprint away from the Beavers.

After closing to 14-12 on a 1-yard run by Kahlil Bell in the third quarter, the Bruins’ blew a chance to take a lead when Ben Olson threw into coverage trying to find Breazell and was intercepted at the Oregon State 16-yard line. They then had to punt on their next two possessions, despite getting the ball at their own 39 and at the Oregon State 47, respectively.

‘’I made a bad throw there,’’ Olson said. ‘’I was trying to make something kind of out of nothing. … The game, it wasn’t very clean on our part. We made a lot of mistakes and did things that you really can’t do. But, fortunately, we were able to come through when it mattered and that’s the most important thing.’’

The Bruins, though, made it back with the one play, the screen to Breazell. And when they did take a lead, finally, the Beavers fell completely apart.

Gerard Lawson fumbled the ensuing kickoff, racing up to try to catch a high, short kick from Jimmy Rotstein. Matt Slater (Sevite High) recovered the football at the Oregon State 23 and three plays later Bell was in the end zone at the end of a 4-yard run.

Rotstein kicked off again and Lawson fumbled again, this time when hit by John Hale (Los Alamitos High). Rodney Van recovered at the Oregon State 39, and five plays later Breazell caught a 30-yard strike from Olson to put the Bruins up, 33-14.

The Beavers went three-and-out and Korey Bosworth blocked the punt by Alexis Serna. Five plays later, the Bruins were in the end zone again with Chris Markey bolting in from 2 yards out.

The Bruins couldn’t really argue — even with a 26-point victory in their pockets.

‘’I was very disappointed with the way we started the game,” Norvell said. “We called probably the two most simplest plays and we ended up with turnovers. It was almost like we were meant to play from behind and had to win a game from behind and have to win a tough game.

‘’We talked so much about it. I’m really proud of our kids, the way we fought through and overcame adversity. We talked about it a lot since the Utah game. It was about our character and the way we come through. That is the thing I was most proud of today.’’

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.